The Art And Practice Of Landscape Gardening

London: The Author and Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, And Co., Limited, 1890., 1890. 4to. pp. 4 p.l., 116. 10 etched plates in sepia, 2 plans of tree plantations, & 10 partly coloured plates of garden plans (2 double-page). original cloth, t.e.g., others uncut (spine ends & corners frayed). First Edition. The author was the son of Edward Milner, who was the colleague for many years of Sir Joseph Paxton, and the younger Milner worked for many years with his father. "It is not the author's intention by this book to give another history of landscape gardening; his intention is rather to record the present development of the art and his own relation to, and practice of it. The love of natural picturesqueness is of very modern growth in England.It is the province of the Landscape Gardener, as I understand the art, to appreciate the multitudinous means whereby Nature expresses her beauty, and to use those means artistically as to arrange their force for producing the delightful result he desires to achieve.To utilize her means and to let the spirit of her works influence our art in every practicable way, is the true practice of the art of Landscape Gardening." (pp. 4-5) Included are chapters on the site of the house and gardens, the terrace, plantings, water, fountains, seats, pavilions, bridges, hothouses, and kitchen gardens. He considers public parks and cemeteries as illustrated by the Buxton Public Gardens in Derbyshire and the cemetery for the Corporation of Stoke-upon-Trent. Two double-page plans for park and gardens show Milner's designs for Peverey, near Shrewsbury, for Sir Offley Wakeham (Aston Webb was the architect), and Keszthely in Hungary for Count Tassilo Festetics.. F. Hardcover.